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The repair of earthen structures is not an easy task. Earth as a construction material has comparatively weak mechanical properties. It is also susceptible towards liquid water, were it can lose cohesion very quickly if certain moisture contents are exceeded. Repair concepts of structures built with such materials are therefore challenging. Historical earthen structures often exhibit damages in form of extensive cracking, which may have been caused by static or dynamic loads. Frequently these cracks are insufficiently or inappropriately repaired because of lack of knowledge and / or technology. In particular, the behaviour of crack repair by grouting poses a challenge in earthen materials and demands specific requirements for the grouting mortar, such as low water content, good water retention, low shrinkage. Grouting materials require additional specifications such as compatible strengths and Young’s modulus as well as good adhesion to the earthen substrates. In addition, grouts have to be sufficiently flowable to fill small cracks and voids without segregation or bleeding. Therefore, the rheological behaviour has to be well understood and controlled to gain the desired effects.The repair of cracks in earthen buildings is traditionally done by stuffing manually mortar into the gap. Naturally, this method is only usable for cracks with large widths. Another disadvantage is that cracks going through thicker walls cannot be completely reached by the tools used for stuffing the mortar into the crack. Lime based grouts for earthen materials were usually used for re-attachment of plasters but less for structural reasons.Due to the nature of earthen materials grouts based on formulated or hydraulic lime (according to the definition in EN 459-1) have to meet considerable demands on a variety of properties, which are related to compatibility, durability and in particular to the ability of being injected. The goal of this study was to create a grout, which can be used to re-establish structural continuity in cracked earthen masonry or other massive earth walls (rammed earth and cob) with the focus on grouting cracks. The grout material was based on hydrated lime (calcium hydroxide) with additions of pozzolana and lime stone filler.
The paper presents a comparison between two different numerical modelling approaches aimed to simulate the in-plain behaviour of rammed earth walls, namely under axial, diagonal and cyclic shearcompression loading. In the first part of the study the mechanical characterisation of wallets tested under uniaxial compression and diagonal compression and walls tested under in-plane cyclic shear-compression loading is presented. The results were used to implement and validate the finite element simulations. The numerical modelling of the rammed earth samples tested is then discussed in the second part. A non-linear constitutive law based on the total strain rotating crack model (TSRCM) was employed as implemented in the DIANA® software [1]. The aim of the numerical analyses presented here is to simulate the behaviour of rammed earth under different inplane loading conditions. For the wallets, tests under static loading both macro- and micro-modelling approaches were considered for the simulation of the experimental tests. For the walls subjected to cyclic loading only the micro-modelling approach was applied for the simulation of the experimental tests. The respective FEM model was calibrated with the experimental results. The rammed earth layers were represented by continuum elements, the contact surfaces between layers by interface elements. This approach allowed assessing the influence of the apparent weakness of the interfaces between layers on the shear behaviour of rammed earth. The goal of the numerical simulation of the cyclic tests was to establish the adequacy of common analytical methods (e. g. used for masonry) applied to the analysis of rammed earth. Rammed earth exhibits brittle characteristics similar to masonry materials and is used in geometrical typologies, such as walls, common in masonry construction.
In-plane shear behaviour of earthen materials panels strengthened with polyester fabric strips
(2016)
An experimental investigation was carried out to study the in-plane shear behaviour of earthen material panels strengthened with polyester fabric strips. Strengthened panels were developed to exploit the strength potential of earthen materials and to solve its lack of tensile strength, significantly improving not only strength but also ductility. Three earthen materials were considered: cob, earth block masonry (EBM) and rammed earth (RE). As first approach the strengthening configuration, based on different adhesive materials, was tested only for cob panels. As part of the study the results of a big testing campaign of unstrengthened Panels were considered. Seven strengthened panels were tested in diagonal compression/shear.A unique reinforcement orientation was used. The results of these tests are presented in this paper, and include the load-displacement behaviours, crack patterns, failure modes. The results showed that the reinforcement was the most effective in EBM panels, with increase in strength and ductility observed. In RE and cob panels the reinforcement did not likely contribute significantly to the shear resistance, due to a lack of embedment length of the strips. Instead, in EBM it was likely that the vertical reinforcement acted in tension to restrain shear induced dilation and to restrain sliding.
Compared to the designated European upper reference level of 300 Bq m-3 for indoor radon concentrations, the contribution of building materials appears to be low. Taking into account the recommended limit of 100 Bq m-3 by WHO as well as the increased dose conversion factor, the contribution of building products is quite relevant, especially at low air change rates. Therefore in Germany a maximum contribution of building materials to the indoor radon concentration of 20 Bq m-3 is discussed.
Because measurements of low concentrations are associated with high uncertainties, radon exhalation rates are often determined in chambers without air exchange and indoor conditions are extrapolated.
This study investigated the suitability of direct low level radon measurement under simulated indoor conditions with commercially available instruments, based on the preliminary EU standard for the determination of the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from building materials in test chambers.
Measurements are possible with a relative uncertainty ranging from 7 to 18 %. Four major problems were identified:
1. Detector sensitivity: Two of four instruments were identified to determine low radon concentrations in a sufficiently short measuring time.
2. Thoron discrimination: Thoron was discriminated by aging the sampled air in a hose before the detector.
3. Sampling setup: An external chamber measurement was feasible as long as all main system parts were under slight overpressure.
4. Blank value: For VOC-emission testing ambient air, conditioned by filtration and sorption, is used to generate an air exchange. Regarding radon, this treatment is non-effective. If all instrument background levels have been characterized, the blank value must be measured with a second detector in parallel.
In civil engineering the information about the quantitative ingress of harmful species like Cl⁻, Na⁺ and SO²⁻₄ is of great interest to evaluate the remaining life time of structures. These species are triggering different damage processes like the alkali-silica reaction (ASR) or the chloride-induced corrosion of the reinforcement. For the evaluation of the heterogeneous concrete it is necessary to discriminate between the different phases mainly cement matrix and aggregates. The transport processes are only proceeding in the cement matrix therefore the measured concentrations should be regarded to the cement content. For the 2D evaluation of element distributions different multivariate cluster-algorithms like k-means and Expectation-Maximization-algorithm (EM-algorithm) have been tested. The methods are compared and different figures of merit will be presented. After phase separation non-relevant information of the aggregates can be excluded. The ingress of harmful species is then quantified using chemometrics. Due to concrete cores from a parking deck the methods have been validated and verified with standard methods of wet-chemistry.
A significant number of German concrete motorway pavements have shown damage only a few years after construction. The alkali-silica-reaction (ASR) is often one of the reasons for this damage. German guidelines and regulations focus on the optimisation of the concrete composition to avoid damage due to ASR. Moreover, diverse research projects have dealt with the development and optimisation of ASR performance test methods with and without external alkali supply.
However, the influence of other parameters on the occurrence and intensity of a damaging ASR had not yet been taken into account. Such parameters include, e.g., insufficient curing and the modifications of concrete’s porosity due to the use of slip form pavers. Likewise, the increased traffic loading had not yet been considered. The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) assesses these parameters and processes in a number of projects. These projects aim primarily to increase the durability of the concrete pavements, in particular by improving preventive measures that may be taken before or after the construction of concrete pavements. This paper gives a short overview of BAM’s projects concerning ASR in concrete pavements. Furthermore, results regarding the influence of the cyclic traffic loading on ASR are presented.
The concrete prism test at 60°C facilitates accelerated testing of alkali-silica reactivity of aggregates within five months. Manual measurement is usually conducted to determine expansion of test specimen every 28 days. This conventional procedure gives only limited insight to expansion behaviour of ASR-affected prisms. Due to the large time intervals, expansion exceeding the critical value of 0.3 mm/m is likely to be noticed late. Continuous recording applied in this work resolves this problem and delivers beneficial information on the shape of the expansion curve.
Different types of aggregate have been tested applying continuous and manual measurement to the concrete specimens.
Models of ASR-induced expansion, available in the open literature, so far are validated with discontinuous data hardly tracing the modelled curve. Continuous measurement improves validation and further model development.
Moisture testing and mapping
(2017)
Moisture testing and mapping
(2018)